FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:   Elissa Ruffino (NIAF)  202/939-3106 or elissa@niaf.org

Contact: Serena Cantoni in NYC with students at   202/256-4743202/256-4743for interviews or
Elissa Ruffino 202/387-0600202/387-0600 ext. 13 or elissa@niaf.org

THE NIAF SPONSORS 40 ITALIAN STUDENTS VISIT NEW YORK
**Monday, July 23 and Tuesday, July 24**

(WASHINGTON, DC – July 23, 2001) Forty Italian students attending universities throughout Italy are in New York City today and tomorrow, Tuesday, July 24 to participate in The Gift of Discovery: Learning Exchange, Italy and America, an educational and cultural program sponsored and paid for by The National Italian American Foundation.

In New York City, the participants will visit the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and East Side Tenement Museum. They will enjoy an evening boat cruise and dinner on the Hudson River and visit a Krispy Kreme store in Long Island to make doughnuts and learn about the American franchise business model. Participants will also meet with NIAF Board of Director Marie Garibaldi, who was the first woman to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court, and NIAF Regional Vice President Vincenzo Marra, an example of an Italian immigrant who started and established a business in Manhattan.

The Foundation’s program will increase the participants’ understanding of America and the progress that Italian Americans have made in the last century. Over 600 students between the ages of 18 and 23 applied to the Foundation’s Gift of Discovery program.

On Friday July 20, the Italian students arrived in Providence, RI for three days to participate in the Foundation’s 8th Annual Youth Retreat. At the retreat, the students learned about Italian American traditions and compared those traditions to their heritage, took a boat tour of the rivers of Providence and networked with Italian American students. After New York City, the students will then travel to Philadelphia and Washington, DC for the remaining six days (July 24-29).

A total of one hundred and twenty Italian American students were hosted by the NIAF on a 10-day trip to northern and southern Italy from May 18-28 and June 13-23.